Mississippi Municipal League hosts Small Town Conference in Meridian

MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) -More than 400 city and small-town government officials are attending this year’s Small Town Conference.

It features different classes and panels for leaders to learn about different governing strategies.

“So today was about broadband infrastructure and what the timeline is for that, particularly in those rural areas that maybe don’t have access yet. We also heard from the National League of Cities in terms of using their services to provide for infrastructure grants, because there’s an unprecedented amount of federal funding out there for infrastructure needs, regardless of the size of your city. And tomorrow, we’ll move more to the legislative agenda that we’re going to be dealing with next session. Particularly when it comes to the PERS state retirement,” said MML President and Mayor of Hattiesburg, Toby Barker.

MML hosts the two-day-long event, hoping city leaders will come and bounce ideas off one another as a way to spark inspiration to make their cities better for the people who live there.

“We have learned so much. One, if you if you believe that you know how government works, you need to come to this conference and you certainly learn how government works. I’ll be learning how to obtain grants. We’re learning leadership. I’ll be learning organization. I’ll be learning the importance and services to our to our constituents and to our voters. And so it is just a great, excellent learning program,” said the Mayor of Canton, Dr. William Truly.

Conferences like these allow leadership to develop and improve the cities they run. After years of hard work, the city of Meridian has become one of the main cities these types of events are held.

“Oh, man, it’s great. I mean, you know the thing that I see every time that we hold a conference. It’s a couple of 100 folks that’s coming, and that means that’s better on the tax base. That’s an increase in the tax base. And so we’re very, very appreciative of it,” said the Mayor of Meridian, Jimmie Smith.

The conference will end with the last session being held Thursday at the Riley Center.